AGU Scientific Ethics: 10-Minute Challenge

About the 10-Minute Challenge

The purpose of this exercise is to provide an active learning experience in a safe setting where ethical issues can be explored. This training will help participants be prepared to recognize and address ethical problems. By grappling with the sorts of ethical problems that arise regularly in professional life in this safe, non-threatening role-play setting, participants can think through the problem and gain some skills and tools to use should they ever encounter such a problem. We hope that by practicing these conversations you become better able to resist confusion and anxiety when questions of ethical research arise.

Directions

Each team will be given a Role-Play scenario based on a real-life ethical issue. The teams will be given 10 minutes to read their scenario and discuss the ethical issue that relates. In the discussion, please consider the following:

  1. What are some of the issues that arise from this ethical dilemma?
  2. What would you do to resolve the situation?
  3. Who is potentially affected by this misconduct?
  4. What are some of the rules and regulations that could be used to evaluate or resolve this dilemma?
  5. What are some of the resources that you could refer to?
  6. What are your options to move forward?
  7. What are some takeaway lessons?

Keep in mind, there are no “right” answers in these role-play scenarios. There are no grades. These scenarios are based on real situations that real people encountered.After the role-play we will discuss the experience and the takeaways.

Challenge 4: Intellectual Property, Plagiarism and Fabrication

Ann has been casually helping her co-worker John with some research he is doing, batting around ideas, providing helpful lines of further research, and giving copies of a few related papers, including one of hers that is currently in review for publication. A month later while Ann is at anAGU meeting she drops by her colleague's poster, and sees all of her ideas laid out on the poster and notices a few pieces of text that may have come directly from her unpublished paper that she shared. Further, the data appears to have doubled and shows nearly perfect correlations, when before it was sparse and fuzzy. The photos are also far more convincing than what Ann remembers. John is the sole author. Just as a very troubled and confused Ann begins to leave for the next poster, John comes strolling up to her. What should Ann do?

Issues

  1. What possible misconduct issues are there?
  2. Should Ann talk to John about her concerns?
Rules and Regulations
  1. AGU Science Integrity and Ethics Policy
  2. University policies on research integrity
  3. Federal regulations on research integrity

Questions

Resources
  1. AGU ethics e-mail
  2. Research integrity officer on campus
  3. Mentor/Advisor
  4. Colleagues
  5. National ethics center website

Options

  1. Talk in a non-confrontational way with your colleague about the content of the poster to try to understand what you are actually seeing in the poster and if misconduct is taking place, do not accuse, but seek to understand what may be taking place
  2. Talk to a science integrity officer at your university or arrange to talk with someone in AGU ethics about the situation, to further determine if there is an issue and what steps to take next.
Takeaway Lessons
  1. It’s important when dealing with a colleague who may have committed research misconduct not to confront them, but to try to understand the situation.
  2. If you think misconduct has happened, get help and advice from your university research integrity officer, through the AGU Ethics e-mail, or through a trusted supervisor.